A review by autumnbaucom
The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Perfect Son pulled me in right away. I was so down with the first part of the story—the premise of figuring out what was really going on with the son, and whether his mother would protect him from what he might be—was exactly the kind of tense, psychological drama I love.

But then it twisted… and then re-twisted… and then twisted again. By the end, I felt like the book didn’t trust its own premise to be strong enough without piling on surprise after surprise. At some point, it stopped feeling like plot twists and started feeling like shock value.

This is my second Freida McFadden book, and I’m seeing a pattern—there’s always a big twist, and then another twist that completely upends the story, and then sometimes another one on top of that. The problem here is that the constant flipping took me out of the original story I was so invested in.

The ending also tied up a little too perfectly, which undercut the tension the beginning had built so well. Still, I flew through it—McFadden knows how to keep you turning pages—I just wish the book had trusted its first, strongest version of itself instead of trying to out-twist itself over and over.